Historic Self-Guided Walk Glen Osmond - City of Burnside

By 1860, a room had been added, and slates replaced the original roof,
at which stage the Rate Assessment jumped from £6 to £9! In 1862-63,
large stables with an upper loft and a feedhouse were added, and the
Rate Assessment went up to £12, and by 1863 - 64 to £20.
By this time, Schunke was running
a thriving coach business, handily
situated near the entrance to
the foothills. Two more rooms
were added in 1880, and 1883.
John Carter, one of the Schunke’s
coachmen, lived here until 1910 - 11.
The stables now constitute No. 16A, which was converted to residential
accomodation in the 1960’s.
Now walk along Brook Avenue to Ashley Avenue.
26 ‘The Mews’ (c1844) - 1A Ashley Avenue
The core of this building was originally the coach-house to Benacre, and
was constructed in about 1844, although a brass plate on the gate-post
says 1869. This date may have been the time of some extension. Whether
the top storey was included in the first building is not certain, but it seems
unlikely in the light of the sequence of events at ‘Benacre’. Much of the
present structure was added in the 1970s, to match the original style
and materials.
On the east side is one of Burnside’s many small recreation parks, Ashley
Avenue Reserve.
27 ‘Benacre’ (1840s) - 6 Benacre Close
Adjacent to The Mews, to the south-west,
is Benacre.
Originally built in the 1840’s by the chemist
William Bickford who also started the garden
on a considerable area of land.
The next owner was T.B. Strangways, followed by Thomas Graves.
Thomas Graves established a fine garden containing Moreton Bay figs,
pines, cedars and cypresses from such diverse places as Norway, India,
Lebanon, Japan and Norfolk Island - “an assortment of trees second only
to the Adelaide Botanic Garden”, according to the book History of Glen
Osmond, (1905).
In the mid-1870s, Graves added rooms, a cellar and a top storey, before
selling to Henry Scott, Mayor of Adelaide, who named it ‘Benacre’. During
Scott’s tenure of some 30 years, he hosted countless social events.